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Do you feel that you are doing exactly what you were sent here to accomplish in your lifetime?

Many people don't start thinking about what or who is important to them until they suffer a great loss. Once you or someone you love is gone, you have lost the opportunity to live the life you were meant to live. What would you like to change in your life?

A better paying job

A more fulfilling career

Better relationships

Exploring your talents

More joy in your life

More laughter in your life

More money

More time freedom

Mending gaps in family relationships

Do you recognize your passions and your mission in this life? One way to get crystal clear on what you want to accomplish in this lifetime is to imagine that you are able to write your own Eulogy. What would that sound like? Who would be attending your funeral? Who would be absent from your funeral? For all the people who gathered to pay their last respects to you, what would you like them to walk away with and how would you like to be remembered?

Once you allow yourself to think "outside of the box" and truly embrace the concept of how you will be remembered, this exercise has the power to help you see where you are off track in your current life. If you want to be remembered as a great baseball player, how often are you practicing baseball? If you want to be remembered as a great artist, how are you practicing your art?

Here is an example of what this exercise might look like:

As I look out on all of the faces of those of you in attendance, I can’t help but smile that Jack Canfield has come to pay his respects. Jack, Nancy really admired your work and was always the first in line to help promote you and your books! I hardly know where to begin; Nancy was such an inspiration to so many women and once she determined her life’s mission, there was no stopping her. Nancy’s mission statement was to encourage women to improve their health, value their “self” and increase their wealth. One of Nancy’s favorite sayings was, “A Man Is Not A Plan!” Nancy truly encouraged women to find their gifts and build a business around what they loved to do because she knew that when women have financial independence, they are able to make the better choices. When I think about what Nancy would love to be remembered for, I know that a big part of her happiness came from being a mother and grandmother. Nancy learned many things about being a mother long after her children had moved away and had children of their own. When it comes to being a mother, Nancy felt confident that only after learning to love herself, did she begin to truly enjoy the bonds of motherhood and her advice to mothers everywhere was always, “Love yourself first!” Whether she was traveling, speaking to women’s groups or sharing her message on the radio Nancy loved encouraging women to believe in themselves. By sharing her story, Nancy has been able to help thousands of women understand their story, make the necessary changes and live their life to the fullest. I am sure that wherever Nancy is, she is Partying Like Purple!

Ok, now it is your turn. Give yourself permission to write your own Eulogy and then read it and be honest with yourself. Are you living the life you want to be remembered for?

I hope this blog has given you something powerful to think about and the next time you are wondering if you are living your life "on purpose" think of this exercise and you will know if you are on the right track!

Yours In Health,Nancy MuellerMy Mission: To encourage women to improve their health, value their "self" and increase their wealth!

Have you ever seen crabs in a bucket? When you place one crab in a bucket, the first thing it will attempt to do is escape. If you put two crabs in a bucket together, as soon as one tries to climb out, the other crab will grab the escaping crab by the legs and try to use it to climb over him to escape itself. This process will continue to repeat itself so that NO crab actually ends up escaping.

Do you ever feel like there is someone attempting to hold you down so that you can't escape or move forward in your life? Who is holding you down?Do you recognize the crabs in your life? Crabs come in many forms:

The person who is telling you "why" your ideas will never work

The person who tells you to keep the job you have because "it's a sure thing"

The person who tells you that you will never amount to anything

The person who criticizes the new website you just built

The person who criticizes your parenting skills

The person who tells you to stop dreaming because life is hard and you just have to get used to it

Are you your OWN crab? Being your own crab can look like this:

I can't do that, I don't have enough money

People will never take me seriously when I tell them my dreams and goals

My mother was right, I will never amount to anything

My boss is right, I don't have what it takes to get the promotion I want

I should stay at this job I hate because I am lucky to even have a job

Knowing the difference between the crabs in your life and being your own crab has a great deal to do with your self-talk. When you take a step closer to your success goals, do you second guess yourself? Do you worry about what others are going to say or if they will support your choices? Do you constantly wonder what others are thinking of you and if they approve of the choices you are making? Who are the people in your life that support you? Who are the people in your life who constantly try to remind you not to get too far ahead of yourself?

When you are following your life's passion who are the people that are supporting you? Do you support yourself or do you tell yourself that you don't have enough:

Money

Time

Support

Knowledge

Influence

Education

When will you give yourself permission to eliminate the crabs in your life and improve your self-talk? Your self-talk comes from the limiting beliefs in your subconscious mind. Since our subconscious mind consists of 88% of our thoughts, changing your self-talk is key to eliminating the crabs in your life!

My wish for you is to crawl out of whatever bucket you feel trapped in and move towards the freedom you will feel when you are following your life's passion. Give yourself permission to eliminate the crabs in your life and the next time someone tells you that you "can't" do something, simply turn around, look them straight in the eye, and say, "WATCH ME!"

Nancy MuellerMy Mission: To encourage women to improve their health, value their "self" and increase their wealth!

Megan, age 21 and an only child, returned from burying her parents in a double funeral. They had been killed when her father's small plane went down in turbulent weather. She felt devastated. No! Worse than that! Words were not adequate to describe her feelings. Her insides felt like they'd been hashed through a meat grinder. She could hardly breathe.

She still had their house—her childhood home—to clean out, and the estate to settle. No time for that now. She had to return to her new job tomorrow. She'd only worked there six weeks—since college graduation a couple of months ago.

What was she going to do?How would she handle life?She had always relied on her parents for advice.Now she faced the unknown world alone.

This sweet client of mine faced a bleak situation. Tougher than most of us will have to confront.

Megan went to work the next day, and each day thereafter. But she seemed to wilt during this period of intense grief, locking emotional self away during her job and daylight hours, and falling apart in grief after dark.

Megan felt frozen with fear. She just knew she would never be able to live a normal, healthy life.

CLICK HERE to read more and join us on Life's About Choices Radio when Christy discusses "Beyond Fear". CLICK HERE to access the radio interview.

You found your perfect soul mate, you planned the for the big day, you said "I Do" in front of all your friends and family members and have settled down for "Happily Ever After."

Goals and your future success are fun to think about, but seldom do we think about death, divorce, job loss, sickness, or accidents that you never saw coming.

Q: When do you think about money most often?

A: "When you are experiencing a lack of money!"

Even the best of relationships can be put to the test when something happens to the major stream of income in your life. If your major stream of income depends on another person, when will you give yourself permission to create financial independence in your life so that you are able to support yourself, should the need arise.

Every woman has a tremendous Inner Strength as well as a talent that is unique to her. When you understand that the unique gift that is "you" gives you a tremendous opportunity to create a life of abundance and financial security, you will begin to look for ways to share your gifts and talents.

When you understand what you are passionate about, and you find a way to earn a living with that passion, you will never work another day in your life. Too many women remain in a less than satisfactory relationship or career because they don't believe they can find a way to support themselves in a different way.

If your self talk is telling you that you don't have the right education, the right skills or the knowledge to financially support yourself, then it is time for you to change your self talk. Our self talk comes from the same stories we have told ourselves over and over throughout our lives. Pay attention to the words you use on a daily basis. If you find yourself using dis-empowering words such as, "I can't, I don't know how, I'm not good enough, I'll never figure this out (the list can be endless) then it is time to change your vocabulary.

Your vocabulary (the words you choose) creates the story that becomes your life because you continue to tell yourself that your life can not be changed. Change your words, change your vocabulary, and it will change your life.

He was part of the group on my tour bus and dependent on his wheelchair. I could already see the limits he would be facing while attempting to get around the amusement park his group was visiting.

While the rest of his group went off to explore the park, not wanting to be a hindrance, he was trying to make the best of it and get around on his own.

As I watched him rolling around, my thoughts drifted back to my own time spent in a wheelchair remembering the handicap stall that wasn't functional, the parking space that seemed so far away from my destination, the counter that was too high, rolling along the street watching for the slightest incline that had the potential to be my undoing, the item I needed that was located out of my reach, and even opening a closed door could be such a source of frustration as I would experience someone stand there watching me struggle rather than ask me if I could use a little help. There were some days that it just didn't seem worth the effort, but to give up was not in my nature and I could see the same determination in him!

I saw the opportunity to "pay it forward" and asked if I could push him around the park. As he hesitantly agreed, I soon put his mind at ease when he saw that I was experienced in maneuvering the chair around the crowds of people. As I spent time with him over the next few days, and he shared his story about what put him in the chair I couldn't help but think that so many people go through life every single day without truly giving thanks for what they have. The simple act of being able to walk around on our own two feet is such a blessing.

Often times we are so caught up in what needs to be done before the day, week or month is through that we don't stop to truly live in the present. What would happen if you took one hour every day to be truly present and SEE what is going on right in front of your nose? Would you then be able to see the door that you could hold open for someone, a struggle that someone close to you is experiencing that you have been too busy to notice, or even the flowers that you walk past every day with hardly a second glance?

I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to push him around for a few days and the reminder of how thankful I am and why I Love My Life! Making time to live in the present could be the start of a new awareness in your life. Because, after all, Life Is All About Choices!

I posted a question on Facebook this morning asking this question: I have a question for you... If you could go back in time, knowing what you know today with the opportunity to talk to your 10 year old self, what advice would you give yourself? As I sit here looking out over the Pacific Ocean, it is so easy for me to share my answer to this question. My answer was this, "stop being afraid and stop believing that you don't matter! You will grow up to bring a positive influence to others and your strength will empower many people." Ever since high school, I wanted to be a teacher; to bring knowledge into the lives of others that would inspire and motivate them. Have you ever heard the term, “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?” As a teenager, I thought the only way I could accomplish this would be as a teacher standing in front of a classroom of students, imparting wisdom on the chalkboard. Here was my limiting belief about that dream, “I did not have the grades or the money to go to college. How could I ever be a teacher?” I had no way of knowing that I would “grow up” to be a published author, motivational speaker, and success coach for women! As a teenager, I had a dream but no belief that it would happen. As I got older, my belief in myself grew in ways I could not have foreseen. As an adult, my dream grew but I had no idea how I could manifest my desire. It turns out, my desire became my passion and my passion became my reality! There came a point in my life when I had to stop being “less than” so others could be “more than.” I had to stop listening to what the nonbelievers in my life would tell me and start believing in myself and the people who believed in me. I have always known that I have a strong Inner Strength and the day that I finally stepped into my power was the day that I started living my passion. What is your dream? What is your limiting belief that your dream will never come to fruition? What can you do, right now, this very minute, to start a New Beginning in your thought process to start living your dream? Do you SUPPRESS your dreams to the point that you become DEPRESSED? Does the depression keep you from who you were put on this earth to be? Jack Canfield calls big dreams a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal!!!). What is your BHAG? Just as Glinda, the good witch told Dorothy, “You have always had the power to go home. You simply had to wait until you believed it for yourself!”

Most women know how to fill the gap; where there is a need, women will fill it! Not only do they find a way to fill the gap, but they will usually create something that can be shared with other women to also make their lives easier! Moms want to exercise, they create Stroller Strides, nursing mothers need a pretty cover up, they create chicnursing blankets! Women wanting to earn extra money for their family may look into a Network Marketing opportunity!Kathy Coover, a leader in her field three times over, has this to say about network marketing… Network marketing is a worthwhile career path for men and women, but Kathy’s experience told her she needed the right people, the right vision and the right focus on the needs of the field to give her company a culture worth believing in. “You have to attract the right quality of people to your company. If it’s not right for our associates, it’s not right for our company,” says Kathy. “Women,” says Kathy, “bring a whole new life, heart and spirit into the industry. There’s a huge opportunity for women to be part of the corporate world in network marketing and they bring a brilliance of information.” Why then the shortage of women in corporate jobs? Coover says, “I believe that 82 percent of the field is women and 82 percent of the people who make six-figure incomes in direct sales are women. That’s a clue.” Kathy has admiration for… Mary Kay Ash: “I admire her and respect her for everything she’s done for women. I know she had struggles and fought through them. I believe like she did: God first, family second and career third. We have to have priorities in our lives. So many women make the family as their excuse for not doing the business, but really the family should be the reason why they do this business.” Marilyn Evans: “She taught me how to do a great presentation, empower other people and be so authentic in yourself that you let your heart come out and really care about people.” Women learn from other women, lead the way in filling the gap and will always look for a way to create a New Beginning in their lives. What name comes to mind as the most influential woman in your life who showed you a way to fill your gap? Once her name comes to mind, give her a call, tell her “thank you” then go out and pay it forward!

I grew up with John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor. These people came into our home each week in the form of our favorite TV show or movie of the week. My grandmother often spoke of traveling to California to see Matt Dillon. She could never understand that he was a character played by James Arness on her favorite weekly TV show, Gunsmoke. Dreaming of Hollywood; the Academy Awards, the glitz and the glamor would allow my mother an opportunity to escape her world and travel to the world of Hollywood, taking me and my siblings with her! Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and of course Elizabeth Taylor; my mother could not get enough of them and her excitement was contagious! The movies and people that starred in the movies were different when my mother was a young girl; mystery surrounded the movie stars and the places they frequented were places she could only hope to visit. Hollywood and those that ruled Hollywood saw to it that the public only saw the glamorous side of the movie business. Every girl wore her hair like Elizabeth Taylor and dreamt of being discovered like Lana Turner. Today, the world of Hollywood is very real in my mother's life as she follows my tours leading guests through Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood as a local Tour Guide. She marvels at the places I check into on Facebook when I talk about having a drink at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where Julia Robert's captured the eye of Richard Gere while filming Pretty Woman or walk the staircase that every movie star passes through during the Academy Awards. As I stand on the stage at the Hollywood Bowl and encourage the guests on my tour bus to pose and take pictures that will give them lasting memories, I often give thanks to my mother for sharing her love of all things Hollywood with me. Not only do my childhood memories of Hollywood make me a great Tour Guide, they have also made me my mother’s favorite Hollywood Star!

Do you believe in Happy Endings? Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in Heroes? Yesterday my Monday started like every other Monday, except this time my fiance asked me to clear my schedule after 12:00. He didn’t tell me why he wanted me to clear my schedule; he only told me he would be ready when I returned from my morning meeting. When I got home, we got in the car and headed south; not knowing where we were going, I settled back and we talked while we drove. When we arrived at the Laguna Hills Courthouse, I assumed my fiance was making a stop for his business as a Realtor. We found the room he was looking for, walked up to the computer, and my fiance turned to me, held my hand, and said, “If it’s OK with you, I would like for us to get married today.” I nearly fell over as he pulled our wedding rings out of his pocket and waited for my response. Our ceremony was beautiful and more than I could have imagined as we gazed into each other’s eyes and promised to love, honor, and cherish each other until death do we part. The moment was perfect as we stood beneath the trickling waterfall and held each other’s hands; just the two of us in that beautiful chapel. My wonderful husband had the day all planned; after we were married we had a beautiful Italian dinner with a view of the ocean, great food complete with champagne. We ended the day at The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. With more champagne, sitting side by side in the outdoor amphitheater, for a brief magical moment in time it seemed that there was only the two of us. The night was warm, the moon was full and high in the sky and when the lights went out the moonlight cast its magic over us as we settled in to watch the show. Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in heroes? Do you believe in Happy Endings? This is no happy ending because my hero created a New Beginning for the both of us. I love my life!!!